Medical Diagnostics
What is involved with Medical Diagnostics?
Medical Diagnostics are related to the many devices used in the medical field to analyze or detect diseases and other medical conditions. A wide variety of strategies, often used together, are available to help professionals come up with accurate diagnoses that guide treatment plans. Among the most common medical diagnostic devices are the stethoscope to listen to sounds in the body like the beating of hearts, the air in lungs, and the flow of blood in the veins and arteries; the Sphygmomanometer which, along with the stethoscope, aids in determining the blood pressure of the patient; the Ophthalmoscope which allows practitioners to look deep into the patient’s eye; the Otoscope for examining the ear; the Electrocardiograph which examines the electrical activity of the heart; and the X-Ray machine which is especially helpful in determining the health of bones and joints.
In addition there are CT scanning which gives a 3-dimensional view of the body, mammography which uses X-rays, and ultrasound equipment. There are also MRIs which show the internal structures of the body, PET scanning which detects internal functioning in great detail, Nuclear Medicine which uses various radioactive tracers to observe the functioning of the body, and pathology/laboratory services which test tissue samples through microscopes.
With all of the diagnostic tools available today, all would be useless without a well-trained professional or technician to operate the equipment and manipulate the samples to arrive at sound diagnoses that guide treatment plans. As you can imagine there are lots of good career opportunities available in this dynamic and growing career field. Jobs that you can prepare for are things like Electrocardiograph Tech, Medical Radiologic Therapist, Nuclear Medical Technologist, Medical Imaging Tech, Diagnostic Medical Sonographer, EMT and Paramedic, Clinical Laboratory Technician, and many more.
If you like the idea of doing precise work using sophisticated equipment, working in a controlled and sterile environment under critical deadlines, and you have done well in science courses and can be caring toward patients, there is probably a career in Medical Diagnostics that’s just right for you.
